Quotes

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“ In the vast sea which is the life of the church the true tradition of the Spirit flows like a clear pure stream and he who would be in this stream must renounce argument. When anything of self is introduced the waters no longer run clear, for God’s supreme wisdom and truth are the opposite of human wisdom and truth. Such renunciation appears intolerable, insane, to the self-willed, but the man who is not afraid to become a fool has found true life and true wisdom. ” - Sophrony (via Thomas Merton’s Red Diary).

 

“ Holiness is painful as long as it is not shared by all. ” - (via Thomas Merton’s Red Diary).

 

“ The praying mind does not think, does not reason—it lives. Its activity does not consist in the manipulation of abstract concepts but in participating in being. It is concerned with actual existence, an existence which cannot be included within the narrow framework of human concepts. ” - Sophrony (via Thomas Merton’s Red Diary).

 

“ The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. … Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible. ” - Søren Kierkegaard

“ Silence and long suffering are the most perfect acts that a man may have. ” - “A Friend of God”, The Book of the Poor in Spirit (via Thomas Merton’s Red Diary).

“ Christ built his classroom of redemption among the poor – not because money is evil, but because money often makes slaves of those who worship the things of earth and forget about God. ”  
- Oscar Romero, December 25, 1978.

 

“ No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything, look down on others, those who have no need even of God – for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, those who need someone to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is God, Emmanuel, God-with-us. Without poverty of spirit there can be no abundance of God. ” - Oscar Romero, December 24, 1978.

 

“ The person who feels the emptiness of hunger for God is the opposite of the self-sufficient person.
In this sense, rich means the proud, rich means even the poor who have no property but who think they need nothing, not even God. This is the wealth that is abominable in God’s eyes, what the humble but forceful Virgin speaks of: “He sent away empty-handed the rich” – those who think they have everything – “and filled with good things the hungry” – those who have need of God. ”  
- Oscar Romero, December 3, 1978.